On 20th January, for the second time in as many months, 50 plus parents came out to protest against horrendous conditions at John Gulson Primary School in Foleshill.
Parents' comlaints include toilets right next to classrooms, overcrowded reception classes, a non-functional school hall, no medical room and structural problems. The protest followed one on 17th December and was again "loud and proud".
The Parents Action Group petition was presented to Tory Cabinet Member John Blundell. The Tory council has attracted a lot of blame for these issues and rightly so. But it has to be mentioned that BOTH main political parties voted FOR a schools re-organisation when the city was NEW LABOUR controlled where a number of primary schools were needlessly closed. This was only totally opposed by the Socialist Party group who mentioned that the city's population would grow as well as calling for smaller classes.
This has now happened and it was the expectation of schools like John Gulson to take additional pupils into an already worn out buildings that created the spark that ignited the protests. The parents fail to see the sense in why plans have been made to extend a school where the core buildings are already decaying - they want a new school.
They hope to invite New Labour education minister Ed Balls to the city. If this happens lets hope he denounces his Government’s bailing out of bankers and tying schools improvement plans into unaffordable private finance schemes and offers the cash to build a new school! We fully supported the parents in organising protests, which were covered on Central TV as well as local media, and we will continue to do so!
Councillor Rob Wndsor, St Michaels Ward
Here are two videos produced by the Parents Action Group, please take a look and see the conditions at John Gulson Primary School for yourself.
(Please wait a few seconds for the videos to load)
